Web 2.0 Workshop - 11 June 2008 - 20 June 2008
Evaluation of a Web 2.0 Application
For this part of the workshop, you are asked to select a Web 2.0 application from the list that was provided (or feel free to select your own application). You should explore the use of this application in some detail - which may involve creating a free account and then creating content. Of course, you should think about how you could use this application in your college teaching - you might even want to use Google (or your favorite search engine) to see if others are using this application in higher education.
When you have completed your initial evaluation, you should share your thoughts and experiences with others in the workshop. To do this, you will add content to a wiki (a great Web 2.0 application) that was created for this exact purpose - so that by the end of the workshop, everyone will have access to a new resource - a wiki that describes a number of Web 2.0 applications and how they could be used in higher education (hopefully to improve student learning).
Instructions for Adding Your Evaluation to the Wiki
The wiki that was created for the evaluation of Web 2.0 applications resides on the "pbwiki" website. This site provides FREE wiki hosting (Ray and Burks really like that). BTW - PB actually stands for "Peanut Butter" - since making a wiki is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich:
Go to the wiki at http://sloan-c.pbwiki.com/ and click on the "Login" link in the upper right of the page:
This action will bring up a new page:
Enter the password (which is "rayburks" without the quotes), and also enter your name and e-mail address. Then click on the "Log in" button.
You then will go to the main page in the wiki (the "FrontPage"). Click on the "Edit page" button to edit this page in the wiki:
Clicking on the "Edit page" button will open the page for editing in a "WYSIWYG" editor (so if you can use a text editor, such as Microsoft Word, you should be able to use the PBWIKI editor):
At this point, the only thing you have to do is add a link to your NEW page in the wiki - that is, the new page where you will provide your evaluation of your Web 2.0 application. Adding a link to a new page also CREATES the new page in the wiki. To add a new link, position the cursor on the exact part of the page where you want to add the link, and then click on the "Link" icon in the editing window:
This will bring up a dialogue box, where you can enter the name of the new page in the wiki. Please name your page using the convention "Application Name - Your Name", such as "Flickr - Burks Oakley" (without the quotes):
When you click "OK", the new link will be added to the "FrontPage" of the wiki. You may wish to edit the text style (font, color, size, etc.) at this point. When you have finished your edits, click on the "Save" button in the lower part of the editing window. When you save your changes, you will exit from the editor and view the page as it will appear in a browser. [Note that everyone else in the workshop also will be editing this page.]
Next, simply click on the NEW link that you just added, and you will view a new page that actually creates the new page:
Click on the "Create new page" button. This action will open your NEW page in the WYSIWYG editor, and you then can add your evaluation on this page. Be creative! Don't forget to "Save" your edits before exiting from the editor:
As you continue to think about how your application could be used, or as you discuss your application with others in the workshop, you can re-visit the wiki at any time and make additional edits to your page.
If you have any questions, please post them to the Moodle discussion forum. Good luck!
last updated 5 June 2008